Sting (musician)

Gordon Matthew Thomas SumnerCBE (born 2 October 1951), known as Sting, is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He was the principal songwriter, lead singer, and bassist for the new wave rock band the Police from 1977 to 1984, and launched a solo career in 1985.

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Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner was born on 2 October 1951, in Wallsend, Northumberland, England,[8][9] the eldest of four children of Audrey (née Cowell), a hairdresser, and Ernest Matthew Sumner, a milkman and engineer.[10] He grew up near Wallsend's shipyards, which made an impression on him. At eight[11] or ten[12] years old, he was inspired by the Queen Mother waving at him from a Rolls-Royce to divert from the shipyard prospect towards a more glamorous life.[13] He helped his father deliver milk and by ten was "obsessed" with an old Spanish guitar left by an emigrating friend of his father.[14]

Sting performed jazz in the evening, weekends and during breaks from college and teaching. He played with the Phoenix Jazzmen, Newcastle Big Band, and Last Exit. He gained his nickname after his habit of wearing a black and yellow sweater with hooped stripes with the Phoenix Jazzmen. Bandleader Gordon Solomon thought he looked like a bee (or according to Sting himself, "they thought I looked like a wasp"), which prompted the name "Sting".[18][19] In the 1985 documentary Bring on the Night a journalist called him Gordon, to which he replied, "My children call me Sting, my mother calls me Sting, who is this Gordon character?"[20] In 2011, he told Time that "I was never called Gordon. You could shout 'Gordon' in the street and I would just move out of your way."[21]

"Even though logic would say, 'Are you out of your mind? You're in the biggest band in the world – just bite the bullet and make some money.' But there continued to be some instinct, against logic, against good advice, [that] told me I should quit."

According to Sting, who appeared in the documentary Last Play at Shea, he decided to leave the Police while onstage during a concert of 18 August 1983 at Shea Stadium in New York City because he felt that playing that venue was "[Mount] Everest".[25] While never formally breaking up, after Synchronicity, the group agreed to concentrate on solo projects. As the years went by, the band members, especially Sting, dismissed the possibility of reforming. In 2007, however, the band did reform and undertook a world tour.[26]

"In England, our house is surrounded by barley fields, and in the summer it's fascinating to watch the wind moving over the shimmering surface, like waves on an ocean of gold. There's something inherently sexy about the sight, something primal, as if the wind were making love to the barley. Lovers have made promises here, I'm sure, their bonds strengthened by the comforting cycle of the seasons."

In May 1993, he covered his own Police song from the Ghost in the Machine album, "Demolition Man", for the Demolition Man film. With Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, Sting performed "All for Love" for the film The Three Musketeers. The song stayed at the top of the U.S. charts for three weeks, topped multiple other charts worldwide, and reached number two in the UK. In February, he won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for three more.[45]Berklee College of Music awarded him his second honorary doctorate of music in May. In November, he released the compilation, Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting, which was certified Double Platinum. That year, he sang with Vanessa Williams on "Sister Moon" and appeared on her album The Sweetest Days. At the 1994Brit Awards in London, he was Best British Male.[46]

In February 2001, he won another Grammy for "She Walks This Earth (Soberana Rosa)" on A Love Affair: The Music Of Ivan Lins. His "After the Rain Has Fallen" made it into the Top 40. His next project was a live album at his villa in Figline Valdarno, released as a CD and DVD as well as being broadcast on the internet. The CD and DVD were to be entitled On Such a Night and intended to feature re-workings of Sting favourites such as "Roxanne" and "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free." The concert, scheduled for 11 September 2001, was altered due to the terrorist attacks in America that day. The webcast shut after one song (a reworked version of "Fragile"), after which Sting let the audience decide whether to continue the show. They decided to go ahead and the album and DVD appeared in November as ...All This Time, dedicated "to all those who lost their lives on that day". He performed "Fragile" with Yo-Yo Ma and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, US.[50]

In 2003, Sting released Sacred Love, a studio album featuring collaborations with hip-hop artist Mary J. Blige and sitar performer Anoushka Shankar. He and Blige won a Grammy for their duet, "Whenever I Say Your Name". The song is based on Johann Sebastian Bach's Praeambulum 1 C-Major (BWV 924) from the Klavierbuechlein fuer Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, though Sting said little about this adaptation.[53] The album did not have the hit singles like his previous releases. In 2004, he was nominated for the third time for an Academy Award for Best Song,[45] for "You Will Be My Ain True Love," from Cold Mountain, sung in duet with Alison Krauss. The pair performed the song at the 76th Academy Awards.[54]

His autobiography Broken Music was published in October. He embarked on a Sacred Love tour in 2004 with performances by Annie Lennox.[55] Sting went on the Broken Music tour, touring smaller venues, with a four-piece band, starting in Los Angeles on 28 March 2005 and ending on 14 May 2005. Sting was on the 2005 Monkey Business CD by hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas, singing on "Union", which samples his Englishman in New York. Continuing with Live Aid, he appeared at Live 8 at Hyde Park, London in July 2005.[56]

On 11 February 2007, he reunited with Police to open the 2007 Grammy Awards, singing "Roxanne", and announced The Police Reunion Tour, the first concert of which was in Vancouver on 28 May 2007 for 22,000 fans. The Police toured for more than a year, beginning with North America and crossing to Europe, South America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Tickets for the British tour sold out within 30 minutes, the band playing two nights at Twickenham Stadium, southwest London on 8 and 9 September 2007.[59] The last concert was at Madison Square Garden on 7 August 2008, during which his three daughters appeared with him. Toronto documentary producer Vanessa Dylyn, who was producing a film called The Musical Brain, featuring neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, approached Sting about the film. Sting was interested in having his brain scanned while different music was played. "Brand New Day" was the final song of the night for the Neighborhood Ball, one of ten inaugural balls honouring President Barack Obama on Inauguration Day, 20 January 2009. Sting was joined by Stevie Wonder on harmonica.[60]

In October 2009, Sting played a concert in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for an arts and cultural festival. Despite claiming he thought the concert was sponsored by UNICEF, he faced criticism in the press for receiving a payment of between one and two million pounds from Uzbek president Islam Karimov for the performance. Karimov is accused by the UN and Amnesty of human rights abuses and UNICEF stated they had no connection with the event.[68]

2010–2016: The Last Ship and joint tours with Paul Simon and Peter GabrielEdit

In 2010–2011, Sting continued his Symphonicity Tour, touring South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South America and Europe.[69] In the second half of 2011, Sting began his Back to Bass Tour, which would continue (with periodic breaks) through 2013.[70] In October 2010, Sting played two concerts in Arnhem, Netherlands, for Symphonica in Rosso.

In 2011, Time magazine named Sting one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[71] On 26 April he performed "Every Breath You Take", "Roxanne" and "Desert Rose" at the Time 100 Gala in New York City.[72]

In February 2014, Sting embarked on a joint concert tour titled On Stage Together with Paul Simon, playing 21 concerts in North America.[82] The tour continued in early 2015, with ten shows in Australia and New Zealand,[83][84] and 23 concerts in Europe,[85] ending on 18 April 2015. On 26 June 2015 in Bergen, Norway (at the Bergen Calling Festival), Sting embarked on a 21-date Summer 2015 solo tour of Europe in Trondheim, Norway (at the Olavsfestdagene), visiting Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Sweden.[86]

On 28 August 2015, "Stolen Car", a duet with French singer Mylène Farmer was released.[87] It is a cover from Sting's 2003 seventh solo studio album Sacred Love and will serve as the first single from Farmer's tenth studio album, Interstellaires.[88] On its release, the song went straight to number 1 over French iTunes music download charts, subsequently hitting number 1 on the main French singles chart and giving Sting his first number 1 in France.[89]

On 18 July 2016, Sting's first rock album in many years was announced. 57th & 9th was released on 11 November 2016. The title is a reference to the New York City intersection he crossed every day to get to the studio where much of the album was recorded.[91][92] It has contributions by long-time band members Vinnie Colaiuta and Dominic Miller, and Jerry Fuentes and Diego Navaira of the Last Bandoleros. The album was produced by Sting's manager, Martin Kierszenbaum.

On 9 November 2016, Sting performed two shows at Irving Plaza, in Manhattan, New York City, playing songs from 57th & 9th for the first time live in concert: a "57th & 9th iHeartRadio Album Release Party" show, and a Sting Fan Club Member Exclusive Show later that night.[93][94][95][96]

On 4 November 2016, management of the Bataclan theatre announced that Sting would perform an exclusive concert in Paris on 12 November 2016 for the re-opening of the Bataclan, a year after the terrorist attack at the venue.[97] Backed by a 3-piece band including Dominic Miller (guitar), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) and Rufus Miller (guitar), Sting performed seven songs from his new album 57th & 9th.[nb 1] The Police's former guitar player, French native Henry Padovani, joined the band on stage for "Next to You", one of the encores.[nb 2][98][99]

On 7 February 2018, Sting performed as special guest at the important Italian Sanremo Music Festival, singing "Muoio per te", the Italian version of "Mad About You", the lyrics of which were written by his friend and colleague Zucchero Fornaciari, and "Don't Make Me Wait" with Shaggy. 44/876, Sting and Shaggy's first studio album as a duo,[102] was released in April 2018.

Sting had shown his interest in social and political issues in his 1980 song "Driven to Tears", an indictment of apathy to world hunger. In November 1984 he joined Band Aid, a charity supergroup primarily made up of the biggest British and Irish musicians of the era, and sang on "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which was recorded at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London.[105] This led to the Live Aid concert in July 1985 at Wembley Stadium, in which Sting performed with Phil Collins and Dire Straits.[37] On 2 July 2005, Sting performed at the Live 8 concert at Hyde Park, London, the follow-up to 1985's Live Aid.[56]

Sting (second from right) at a Human Rights Now! concert in Mendoza, Argentina, October 1988

In June 1986, Sting reunited with the Police for the last three shows of Amnesty's six-date A Conspiracy of Hope concerts in the U.S. The day after the final concert, he told NBC's Today Show: "I've been a member of Amnesty and a support member for five years, due to an entertainment event called The Secret Policeman's Ball and before that I did not know about Amnesty, I did not know about its work, I did not know about torture in the world."[106] In 1988 he joined musicians including Peter Gabriel and Bruce Springsteen for a six-week Human Rights Now! tour commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[104]

Citing a violation by the state on the right to life guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in 2010 Sting signs the petition in Minsk against the death penalty in Belarus, the only European country that still practises it. Image provided by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a department of the British government.

In 2011, Sting joined more than 30 others in an open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron for "immediate decriminalisation of drug possession" if a policy review showed it had failed. Sting was quoted: "Giving young people criminal records for minor drug possession serves little purpose — it is time to think of more imaginative ways of addressing drug use in our society."[121] In August 2014, Sting was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to reject independence in September's referendum on that issue.[122]

On 4 July 2011, Sting cancelled a concert for the Astana Day Festival in Astana, Kazakhstan. Amnesty International convinced him to cancel due to concerns over the rights of Kazakh oil and gas workers and their families. On 2 November 2012, Sting appeared on Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together and sang a version of "Message in a Bottle" to raise funds for those affected by a storm on the east coast of the US that week. The show reportedly raised $23 million.[123] Sting also participated as a co-host and musician during the day-long 2015 Norwegian TV campaign, dedicated to the preservation of the rainforest.[124]

In January 2018, it was reported that Sting had joined the board of advisors of an impact investing fund of JANA Partners LLC named JANA Impact Capital, aimed at serving environmental and social causes.[125] On 6 January 2018, JANA Partners, together with the California State Teachers' Retirement System issued a public letter imploring Apple Inc. to take a more responsible approach towards smartphone addiction among children. The letter cited several pieces of evidence that show that smartphone use by children increases the risk of their having mental health problems, and worsens academic performance.[126]

Sting married actress Frances Tomelty from Northern Ireland, on 1 May 1976. Before they divorced in 1984, they had two children: Joseph (born 23 November 1976) and Fuchsia Katherine ("Kate", born 17 April 1982). In 1980, Sting became a tax exile[127][128][129] in Galway in Ireland. In 1982, after the birth of his second child, he separated from Tomelty and began living with actress and film producer Trudie Styler. The couple married at Camden Register Office on 20 August 1992 and had their wedding blessed two days later in the twelfth-century parish church of St Andrew in Great Durnford, Wiltshire, south-west England.[130] Sting and Styler have four children: Brigitte Michael ("Mickey", born 19 January 1984), Jake (24 May 1985), Eliot Pauline (nicknamed "Coco", 30 July 1990), and Giacomo Luke (17 December 1995). Coco is a singer who now goes by the name Eliot Sumner, and was the founder and lead singer of the group I Blame Coco. Giacomo Luke is the inspiration behind the name of Kentucky Derby–winning horse Giacomo.[131]

Sting has said that his children will not inherit his £180m fortune, fearing his riches are "albatrosses round their necks", adding that "there won't be much money left because we are spending it."[132] The Sunday Times Rich List of 2011 estimated Sting to be one of the ten wealthiest people in British music.[133]

Both of Sting's parents died of cancer: his mother in 1986 and his father in 1987. He did not attend either parent's funeral, in order not to bring media attention to them.[134]

In 1995, Sting prepared for a court appearance against his former accountant, who had misappropriated several million pounds of his money.[135] Sting owns several homes worldwide, including Lake House and its sixty-acre estate near Salisbury, Wiltshire; a cottage in the Lake District, north-west England; a New York City flat; a beach house in Malibu; the Villa Il Palagio estate in Rignano sull'Arno, Tuscany;[136] and two homes in London.[137]

Sting's affinity for yoga contributed to a rumour about his sexual prowess, including a purported eight hours of sex with Styler.[141][142] The story stems from an interview with Sting and Bob Geldof. A journalist asked "how do you perform in bed?" and Geldof remarked that he was a "three-minute man" but Sting could last for hours thanks to yoga.[143]

Sting played chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in an exhibition game in 2000, along with four bandmates: Dominic Miller, Jason Rebello, Chris Botti and Russ Irwin. Kasparov beat all five simultaneously within fifty minutes.[144]

In 1969, Sting read the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake and later bought the film rights. He named pets, a racehorse, his publishing company, and one of his daughters (Fuchsia) after characters from the books.[145]

In a 2011 interview in Time, Sting said that he was agnostic and that the certainties of religious faith were dangerous.[21]

In August 2013, Sting donated money to The Friends of Tynemouth Outdoor Pool to regenerate the 1920s lido at the southern end of Longsands Beach in Tynemouth, northeast England, a few miles from where he was born.[147]

^About the 2016 Bataclan re-opening show, Sting stated: "In re-opening the Bataclan, we have two important tasks to reconcile. First, to remember and honour those who lost their lives in the attack a year ago, and second to celebrate the life and the music that this historic theatre represents. In doing so we hope to respect the memory as well as the life affirming spirit of those who fell. We shall not forget them."[99]

^"Sting: How I started writing songs again - TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript". TED Talk. Retrieved 20 November 2016. 12:58.. big, black Rolls-Royce. Inside the Rolls-Royce is the Queen Mother. This is a big deal. So the procession is moving at a stately pace down my street, and as it approaches my house, I start to wave my flag vigorously, and there is the Queen Mother. I see her, and she seems to see me. She acknowledges me. She waves, and she smiles. And I wave my flag even more vigorously. We're having a moment, me and the Queen Mother. She's acknowledged me. And then she's gone. 13:50 Well, I wasn't cured of anything. It was the opposite, actually. I was infected. I was infected with an idea. I don't belong in this street. I don't want to live in that house. I don't want to end up in that shipyard. I want to be in that car. (Laughter) I want a bigger life. I want a life beyond this town. I want a life that's out of the ordinary. It's my right. It's my right as much as hers.

^"Sting: A Renaissance man". CBS Sunday Morning. 22 Sep 2016 – via YouTube. I used to wear these yellow and black sweaters. They thought I looked like a wasp, and they'd joke. They called me 'Sting'. They thought it was hilarious. They kept calling me St... That became my name.